Some summer sun warmed up the bats at Bob Wren Stadium this weekend.
Ohio was hot out of the gate against Kent State, winning 17-8 on Friday, but cooled during the next two games, falling 28-16 on Saturday and 8-5 yesterday.
Temperatures soared near 90 degrees on Saturday and yesterday after Ohio had two games rained out earlier this week.
The Bobcats entered the series with a half-game advantage over the Golden Flashes in the Mid-American Conference East Division. But Kent State left Athens a half-game up with three conference series left.
When asked if the series lifted any mystique off No. 25 Kent State and its 32-9 record, coach Joe Carbone said Ohio knows it can compete with the best in the league.
I've always thought that
he said. They're a good ball club though. We respect them.
Offense was not in short supply all weekend, but Ohio came up dry at the wrong time in the series
finale yesterday.
Kent State led 7-5 in the sixth after Ryan Mitchell blasted a two-run homer to break a 5-5 tie. With one out in the bottom of the inning, Ohio loaded the bases when Chris Klimko singled, Gauntlett Eldemire walked and Marc Krauss singled.
Hayden Johnston stepped to the plate, but popped out to the shortstop for the second out. Robert Maddox III then grounded out to first and the opportunity was gone.
The pair saw a chance to redeem themselves in the eighth but missed.
Eldemire and Krauss reached again with one out, but Johnston struck out and Maddox grounded to first.
That's baseball Johnston said. If you keep thinking about it
it's just going to weigh you down.
Brandon Besl led off the ninth with a single and Trace Voshell walked with two outs, but Ohio couldn't bring them around against closer Andrew Chafin.
Bob Wren Stadium needed an air traffic controller on Friday and Saturday.
There were 18 home runs in the two days. The teams combined for 69 runs. Maddox smashed a career and team-high three homers Friday to give him seven on the year.
Ohio dropped a nine-spot in the fourth inning on Friday to take command of that game. Kent State had a nine-run inning of its own on Saturday to grab a 19-6 lead. Ohio set season-highs in both runs (17) and runs allowed (28).
The Bobcats went down five runs early on in two of the three games, but battled back to tie or close within a couple runs. Still, Eldemire said the quick deficits were hard on the team mentally.
Carbone chalked up the weekend's outbursts to the typical swings in baseball.
Hitting's contagious
he said. Just about anything can happen.
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Sports
Dylan Scott
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